Just After Dawn
by K-nub
Summary: There are very few things that can get nine-year-old Bumi out of bed at sunrise. As it happens, an all-out sparring match between the Avatar and Republic City's Chief of Police is one of those things.


**Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Avatar: The Last Airbender or The Legend of Korra**

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Lin had been sleeping peacefully when her brother all but yanked her out of her bed.

"Geeze, Bumi!" She yelled when her feet hit the ground, shoving the older boy away with a strong push against his chest. "What do you want?" From the soft orange light coming through the window, she could tell that the sun had only just barely begun to rise; she never got up this early!

Bumi beamed at her with that lopsided grin of his, the one their father said was so similar to that of his namesake; his grey eyes seemed to glimmer with excitement, almost looking silver. He must have just woken up too, if the way his dark brown hair stuck up at crazy angles all over his head was any indication. "You need to come see something," he said excitedly, grasping onto her wrist and pulling her forward; due to his superior age and size, Bumi had her stumbling down the hallway after him within seconds. "C'mon, if we don't hurry we'll miss it!"

Lin narrowed her eyes at her brother, skeptical of how exciting anything that happened just after dawn could actually be. Bumi didn't even turn back to look at her as he guided her down the hall, out of the main house, past a group of confused acolytes, and through the bison stables towards the designated training ground. Lin had made a frustrated noise when she saw the animals in the stable snoozing peacefully; stupid Bumi, even Appa was still asleep!

She must have started dragging her feet at that point, because Bumi turned back to her and gave her a not-so-gentle tug. "Come on, Lin! Geeze you walk so _slooow_." He threw his head back and groaned excessively to show his impatience, giving her a annoyed look.

Lin stuck her tongue out at him. "Maybe I'd walk faster if I knew where I was going," she countered hotly, giving her brother her best threatening glare. Bumi just stuck his tongue back at her in response.

"You'll see," he replied, his quirky smile returning with a vengeance. Lin opened her mouth to argue further, but all that came out was a startled yelp as Bumi pulled her harshly forward, picking up his walking pace.

"Why didn't you wake Tenzin up too?" Lin asked indignantly, still not at all believing that what she was being dragged to was worth losing sleep over.

Bumi shook his head. "No time," he replied simply. "Anyways, he wouldn't get it; he's kinda a baby like that."

Lin took that personally, as if Bumi had taken a dig at her. "He's not a baby; he's the same age as me!"

Bumi rolled his eyes. "Well, duh; you guys are _twins_ , remember?"

Finally reaching her breaking point, Lin pulled her arm roughly out of his grasp and quickly flung it forward again, punching him hard in the shoulder. "I _know_ ," Lin grumbled. Bumi scowled, and his hand rose to rub soothingly over the spot she'd hit. "I'm not stupid."

Her brother grinned "While I would normally disagree," his eyes flitted over towards his intended destination. "We don't have time!"

Lin, beyond having had enough, was about to tell him off something fierce, when what felt like a concentrated earthquake nearly threw her off her feet. She swung her arms around, feebly struggling to maintain her balance, but when she looked towards Bumi he was only grinning wider. He didn't say anything else, he just ushered her the last little bit of the way from their current location to where she knew the training grounds to be. As they neared, the shaking of the ground grew more intense, and beneath the sound of the rumbling earth Lin could almost swear she heard…laughing?

"Ha! Nice try Aang, but you'll need to be faster than that."

Lin perked up at that voice; she'd know her mother anywhere.

"Bumi, what-?"

He raised a finger to his lips to shush her, then pointed towards the center of the clearing. "Look, Lin!"

Perplexed, Lin looked towards the middle of the training grounds to see an immense cloud of dust. By now, she was close enough that she was certain of what she was hearing: someone was laughing, and that someone sounded like –

Her father burst out of the cloud of dirt, his hands swinging in a circular pattern as he tried to settle some of the dust to the ground and clear his vision. He was breathing hard and seemed to be sweating from his effort, but there was still a huge smile plastered across his face as he spun on light toes to face the remaining dust cloud.

"Don't worry," he said, sliding into a firm stance. "I've only just gotten started." To prove his point further, Aang dove back into the dust, jumping into a spinning kick that cleared away the rest of the dirt with one gust of air. The dust settled just in time for Lin to see his foot connect with her mother's raised forearm, her metal armband protecting her from taking any real damage from the blow. Toph pushed Aang's leg aside, and he had to spin midair to land back on his feet; and he does, with the innate agility of a sparrow-cat. His wide grin still played across his lips, and Lin saw a similar expression mirrored on her mother's face.

As soon as Aang's feet hit the ground again, her mother's arm snapped forward like a whip, commanding two pillars to erupt from the ground at an angle to hit her father square in the gut. He flipped backward and dodged them just barely in time, then used the raised earth to jump over Toph's head entirely. When he landed again he spun to face her and punched forward, sending a jutting spine of earth towards her. Toph flicked her wrist and redirected the spine to travel by her harmlessly, and her other hand – fingers bent forward like claws – flew forward, sending a nearby piece of rubble flying towards Aang with incredible speed. He let the rock fly right to him, used his bending to slow it down just barely, caught it in his hand, and used its remaining momentum to send it flying back at her. Toph rose both of her forearms in front of her face, bending her armbands into a thin shield that destroyed the projectile on contact.

Lin could only watch, wide eyed and awestruck. "Woah." She had always known her parents were powerful benders – the titles of Avatar and World's Greatest Earthbender didn't come without good reason – but she hardly ever got to see them go all out. And, to the best of her knowledge, that was precisely what they were doing at that moment.

Bumi grinned at his sister's gaping expression. "I know! And they spar like this _every_ morning!"

Lin's bright jade eyes nearly bugged out of her head. " _Every day_?" Her parents already worked for most of the day, then spent time with them at night; how did they manage such intense sparring alongside all that?

Bumi nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! And I would never have known if I hadn't woken up super early the other day. I was planning on trying to sneak out with Appa, but then I saw them." He looked over at his parents, too excited to mind that the ground was still shaking with each of their powerful attacks. "That day, mom was using her metal cables from work; dad shot a _huge_ rock at her – like, Appa sized – and _wham!,_ she shot her cable forward and the thing just _exploded_!" He made an exaggerated motion with both arms, a strange noise leaving his lips as he tried to mimic the sound of metal crushing rock. "Lin, you shoulda seen it; mom didn't even flinch! It was so awesome…"

Bumi kept gushing, but Lin was hardly even listening to him anymore. Instead, she had focused her attention back on the fight before her, which had only grown more intense in the short span of time that she'd turned away. Her father had started incorporating airbending into his onslaught, an obvious attempt at trying to gain the upper hand over her mother. Every sharp gust of air, though, was either avoided or intercepted by a temporarily raised wall of stone before it could come close to its target. Her mother had responded by becoming increasingly aggressive, forming her armbands into weapons that threatened to break skin if any of her powerful punches met their target. Lin could tell her mother was winning – what with the way she had her father reeling backwards and resorting to mainly evasive maneuvers to avoid having to finally yield – and she just couldn't help herself; after all, she was her mother's daughter.

"C'mon Mom!" She yelled, running forward and closer to the boundaries of the training grounds. Grinning wide, Lin curled her hands into fists and began punching the air enthusiastically. "Show him who's boss! Run him into the ground!"

Her mother – who had of course known she and her brother were there the whole time – just threw her head back and laughed at her daughter's cheering. "You got it Sweetie," she yelled back over her shoulder, a wicked grin on her face. "I'll kick your daddy's butt into next week, just you watch."

Her father, though, must have been too invested to notice her approach. "Lin?" he asked, with a surprised smile on his face even as he ducked out of the way of another one of Toph's heavy blows. He threw his body back, springing off his hands and using a gust of wind to put some distance between himself and his wife. "What are you doing up so – "

"Yeah, Dad!" Bumi ran out to join his sister, cupping his hands over his mouth to make his already loud voice carry even farther – probably all the way across Yue Bay, if Lin had to guess.

"Bumi, too? What is going o – ?"

His question was cut off as he was just a second too slow in dodging Toph's last attack, resulting in the tip of her metal armband-turned weapon touching his neck, just below his jaw. He looked surprised for a second, but a grin found its way to his face once more when he saw the victorious smile on Toph's face.

"Yield?" She asked him simply, panting slightly from the effort of chasing his evasive self around for so long.

Aang smiled widely at her, his own breath coming in shallow gasps. "Yield." Toph lowered her arm, and his eyes flitted to their audience as he stood up straight again. "Though, I do think there may have been some interference from the lychee-nut gallery here." He gestured to the two children with a bent thumb.

Toph raised her eyebrows incredulously, her hands resting on her hips after she bent her armbands back into their default shape. "You might be right," she agreed nonchalantly. "But, regardless, a win is a win," she finished with a shrug and a smirk. Aang just grinned at her, wrapping an arm around her waist and planting a light kiss on her cheek. Toph chuckled, pressing a light hand against his chest to regain some of her personal space. Their children's reaction was immediate.

"Ewwwwww!" Both Lin and Bumi exclaimed in unison, and Lin just looked away while Bumi covered his face with both hands and continued with, "Ooooogies!"

Toph turned her face to Aang, crinkling her nose. "I think we let Sokka 'Uncle-Sit' too much," she muttered to him under her breath. When she redirected her attention to their kids, she had taken on an incredulous expression. "And you two," she started, and both of them practically shrunk into their pajamas as she took on what sounded very similar to her _I-mean-business_ voice. When she smiled, though, the two of them calmed significantly. "What the heck are you doing up so early?" Toph asked around a laugh. "I usually have to fight you two to get you out of bed on a good day."

Bumi, all oogies momentarily forgotten, eagerly replied, "I wanted to watch you kick dad's but again!" A toothy grin appeared on his face.

Aang huffed, "Okay, she did _not_ – " he paused, realizing something. "Wait, what do you mean _'again_?'"

Toph nudged him lightly with her shoulder. "He was watching us the other day, when I was sparring with my spare set of cables." Bumi looked like he wanted to speak up and state otherwise, but the look on his mother's face made it obvious he would lose that battle. "Yes, Bumi, I knew you were there."

Bumi went completely slack-jawed, an embarrassed tinge of red appearing on the tips of his ears. "Whaaaat? How do you always do that?" He crossed his arms and looked down with a slight pout. "I was being _so_ sneaky."

Aang walked over to Bumi, squatted down to be at his level, and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Kiddo," he started slowly, a serious expression on his face. "It'd be in your best interest to realize quickly that your mother sees _everything,_ and to _never_ forget it."

Toph appeared over his shoulder, her hazy eyes aimed in her son's direction. " _Everything_ ," she emphasized. She stood straight, shifting her feet against the ground for a moment. "Speaking of, is your brother still in bed?"

Lin looked accusingly at Bumi. "Yeah, he's still asleep," she grumbled. "Bumi didn't wake him up, thought he wouldn't like to see you guys fighting."

"Sparring," Aang corrected her gently. "And he thought that you would?" he asked, smiling knowingly.

Lin turned back to her father, eyes shining with excitement and a near exact copy of her mother's trademarked grin on her face. "Are you kidding? That was _awesome_!"

Bumi jumped back to his sister's side, and the two exchanged mischievous smiles. "Yeah!" he agreed enthusiastically. "You were all like – " he mimicked his father's earthbending motions. "And them mom was all – " he put his arms in front of his face in the same way that Toph had when creating her impromptu metal shield. "And then the rock was like – " he curled his little hands together in front o his chest, then threw them both up as high as he could and splayed his hands wide, all while making that silly exploding-rock noise again. Bumi spun in a circle and wiggled his fingers for more emphasis. "It. Was. _Amazing_!" He finished with a heavy breath.

Toph closed her eyes and sighed, but a small laugh did escape her. "Yep, Sokka _definitely_ babysits too much," she decided. Aang shrugged, but couldn't find a good reason to disagree. He stood back up to his full height, walking back over to Toph's side. "Maybe we should limit their time over at Meathead's place," she mused as Aang put a lazy arm around her shoulder.

Bumi's reaction was immediate. "What? No!" He argued plaintively. "Uncle Sokka was going to teach me how to use a sword!"

Toph raised her eyebrows at that. "A nine-year-old with a sword," she said lowly. "Uncle of the year, for _sure_."

Bumi pouted. "I wasn't going to _use_ it on anyone," he replied quietly. Perking back up, he added. "Uncle Sokka makes all the best jokes too!"

At that, Aang broke out into laughter. "Okay," he said around his chuckling. "He is _definitely_ spending too much time with Sokka."

His son, whose mind was elsewhere, crinkled his nose when he remembered something else. "Only thing is, he and Aunt Suki are the _definition_ of oogie," he said, and Lin was quick to agree with an enthusiastic nod. "He gets all mushy whenever he sees her, and they always," he paused to gag, " _kiss_ in front of us."

Aang grinned impishly, an idea popping into his head. "Oh, you mean like – " he moved his other arm to wrap around his wife's waist and pulled her firmly into his arms. He moved his face within inches of hers, and noted that she'd already started sniggering at his joke. "This?" After he spoke he leaned in, keeping one eye on his kids the whole time. His lips got within an inch of Toph's and –

"AAHH!"

"NOOOOO!"

Aang collapsed into laughter, resting his forehead against Toph's as both Lin and Bumi yelled and made a bee-line for – well, anywhere else but there. Toph laughed with him, feeling their little feet run with a fervor they rarely displayed. "Yeah, and go wake up your brother while you're at it," she called after them, turning her head in the direction they had disappeared. When she turned back to Aang, he was grinning so wide she could feel it, and he held her closer still. "You're evil," she informed him with a smirk.

"You've rubbed off on me," he replied, giving her a quick kiss now that their kids weren't there to complain about it. Toph smiled against his mouth, gladly returning the kiss, at least until –

"Blehhh," Tenzin said, appearing from the opposite side of the courtyard from where Lin and Bumi had ran. "Gross!"

Aang huffed, amused but still very slightly annoyed. "Look who's _also_ already awake," he mumbled under his breath. He had thought if he and Toph got up early enough, _maybe_ they could get some alone time, but of course –

"Nothing is sacred, Twinkletoes," Toph replied near silently, echoing his exact thoughts as she detangled herself from his arms. "Not with three kids running around, anyway."

Aang perked up; there was _one_ way to guarantee time alone. "Yeah, about Sokka babysitting less…"

"AHHHH! Sneak attack!"

All at once, Tenzin – who was still rubbing sleep from his eyes – was overtaken from behind by his two siblings who had realized quickly that he wasn't in his room. In a fit of child-like war cries, all three kids went tumbling to the ground, Tenzin quickly becoming the bottom of the dogpile. Within seconds little fists were flying, all three of them were screaming, and each of them had definitely acquired at least a handful of new bruises.

"Yeah, _no_ ," Toph said definitively, but then she felt Lin send both her brothers flying across the courtyard and through the nearest wall. Bumi jumped back up to his feet immediately, yelling wildly with his fists raised. Tenzin was slower to rise, but little gusts of wind began to blow roughly around them as he too charged after his sister.

Aang watched his children tousle for a moment with a contemplative expression on his face, then turned back to Toph. "You were saying?"

Toph crossed her arms, sighing in defeat as rocks began to fly and the wind became strong enough to uproot a tree.

"We'll drop them off after work."

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 **I've been working on a few Taang-ish oneshots and stories lately, but this one is easily one of my favorites. I love the idea of Bumi being Toph's son, and the fact that I'm a Taang shipper makes that idea all the more easy to write about.**

 **Let me know what you think! I always enjoy feedback.**


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